Crappy Dog Issues :(

It never fails - just when you think something is going right...We have had issues with Kirby and her aggressiveness toward Sammie and even other dogs/people (read: Charlie) for a long time now, but as of late her attacks on Sammie have become more frequent and more destructive. Charlie and I are at rope's end and are trying to figure out our next course of action. Right now we're looking into behavioral counseling as well as a trip to the vet to try to rule out any medical/anxiety problems.

Unfortunately we really don't have much confidence that any of these steps are going to work, considering her "family history" of troubled/aggressive dogs - her Mom, her brother were both aggressive...so the next thing for us to try would be to give Kirby back to the adoption people we got her from and see if they can find her a suitable home. That's what we agreed to when we adopted her, so that's what we'll do if we have to.

This is, of course, the most depressing of situations, and Charlie and I aren't doing so well with the issue. I'm sad that our first dog is such a spaz and that we aren't able to fix her - or at least haven't been. It makes us feel like bad parents - like failures. It totally sucks. Not to mention that we've had her since she was a puppy, for 2 years now, and giving her up is going to be hard. But it's also unfair to Sammie to have to live in fear of her sister visciously attacking her at every turn. We're keeping them separated at the moment and it's heartbreaking to see either of them looking longingly at the other one, tails wagging, wanting to play. The situation is just so volatile right now, we can't predict what will trigger the next big attack.

So here we are: sad, depressed, defeated, and with little hope.
I'll still try to hold out some hope that it all turns around for the better - will let you know what decision we come to.